Posted on 06/30/2003 10:13:15 AM PDT by knighthawk
A senior cleric said Sunday he mediated the surrender of a top Saudi terror suspect as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz reiterated his vow to strike terrorism “with an iron hand” and demanded Saudi nationals turn in anyone involved in such deadly acts.
The mothers of several wanted Islamic militants also appealed to their sons to give themselves up after the surrender of one of the main suspects in the May 12 triple suicide bombings in Riyadh in which 35 people died.
Sheikh Safar al-Hawali told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Ali Abdel Rahman Saeed al-Faqaasi al-Ghamdi had set conditions for his surrender on Thursday, which the Interior Ministry accepted.
Ghamdi, wanted in connection with the Riyadh blasts, obtained the release of his Moroccan wife and pledges that he would get a fair trial, be allowed to appoint a lawyer and not be tortured.
“Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, assistant interior minister for security affairs, immediately considered these as part of Ghamdi’s rights that he personally guarantees,” Hawali told the pan-Arab daily.
In Washington, a US official said Ghamdi’s surrender was a significant setback to Al-Qaeda, taking out of action the network’s senior operative in the kingdom.
“It’s a serious blow to Al-Qaeda. He is definitely the senior operative in the Saudi operation,” the official said, adding that he was known to be plotting other attacks against US targets in the kingdom and elsewhere.
Meanwhile the mothers of several other wanted Saudi militants have entreated their sons to turn themselves in after Ghamdi’s surrender.
“I appeal to Turky to give himself up like Ghamdi did,” 70-year-old Eida Raji Saleh al-Balhoud, mother of Turky al-Dandani, the most wanted terror suspect, told Okaz daily.
“If you want to see me happy and satisfied, please hurry up and turn yourself in. They will reach you sooner or later,” Balhoud warned from her home in Skaka, in the northern Al-Jouf Province.
Dandani, 27, tops a wanted list of 19 men published by the Saudi security authorities just a few days before the suicide bombings in the capital. He had traveled to Afghanistan two years ago and returned five months later, his brother Saud told the newspaper. Ghamdi was number two on the list.
Hawali said he received a phone call late Wednesday night from Ghamdi asking him to mediate his surrender. “He presented a number of demands, mainly the release of his Moroccan wife,” Hawali said. Ghamdi’s surrender was completed in two hours and took place at dawn on Thursday, the cleric added.
Ghamdi’s wife was arrested at the end of last month along with two other women, another Moroccan and a Syrian, outside the Muslim holy city of Medina while attempting to flee the city following the arrest of several suspects.
According to Hawali, Ghamdi’s wife was released and handed over to Ghamdi’s father Abdulrahman who saw his son in jail on Saturday.
The father told Sunday’s Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the Interior Ministry allowed him to meet his son, who appeared “relaxed for turning himself in.” He said that his son “is feeling deep remorse for what happened, but is very relaxed and very happy at surrendering.” He confirmed that the authorities had freed Ghamdi’s wife.
The mothers of Abdel-Aziz al-Mugren and Othman al-Omari, who are also on the list of 19, also appealed to their sons to surrender.
The pair had also been to Afghanistan before returning to Saudi Arabia and are believed to be members of the Al-Qaeda terror network and involved in the Riyadh blasts.
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